Mark, My Words:

Have you ever helped in the care of someone with a severe chronic or critical illness? Or maybe you are the one going through the illness, yourself. If you have gone through or had the privilege of accompanying someone you love go through diagnosis, tests, difficult treatments, and many sufferings, you may have wondered how your journey is really any different from the Passion of Jesus.

One woman even said, “Jesus only suffered a short time compared to my husband. Jesus did not have to go through a solid 25 years of losing his memory, in pain, needing help to eat and go to the bathroom, no longer recognizing those he loved the most.” Is this heresy? Disrespectful to Jesus? No, not in any way. These sincere human feelings only heighten the importance of joining ourselves to the Passion of Jesus today.

It is very easy for us to forget that Jesus did all his unique life required of him. Jesus fully lived human life, through joy and sorrow, and he went to his death—all with the same passionate acceptance of God’s will for him at every step. 

Just like Jesus, each one of our and our loved one’s joys and sufferings is OURS. Every plant, animal, and person has been called to a unique life—and death—to live through. But Jesus’ Passion is not just about his sufferings in one week of his life.

The Passion reflects the full, passionate love and obedience with which Jesus has responded to God from his birth. May we learn that passionate love from Jesus, so we can bring it into the life of every creature we touch.